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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25079845">Hollow</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/MegumitheGreat/pseuds/MegumitheGreat'>MegumitheGreat</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Dreams, Future Character Death, M/M, Regret, Time Travel</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 03:09:40</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,827</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25079845</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/MegumitheGreat/pseuds/MegumitheGreat</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Cloud dreams of a figure that allows him to go back in time to see Zack before heading to Nibelheim.  If he tells Zack about the future, would he believe him?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Zack Fair/Cloud Strife</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>35</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Hollow</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I dreamed up this idea in the wee hours of the morn only to lose my motivation to write due to burnout and stress.  I think I wanted to do more, but I don't have the energy right now.  Still, if Advent Children Cloud could go back to his Crisis Core self and warn Zack, that would make him feel better right?  I might try to add more to this, but for right now I don't think I can.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>In the world of dreams, all encounters are possible.  Cloud didn’t know he was dreaming until he had brushed his hand on his leg and noticed it had passed right through.  All around him was pure white, a single figure standing before him.</p><p>“I will give you one day,” the figure told him.  “Nothing you do will change the past, but I will let you see him if it will ease your heart.”</p><p>And just like that, Cloud had only blinked before he found himself standing in a place he didn’t want to remember.  The business-like atmosphere and the cheering of SOLDIERs he didn’t know.  He had been looking for the two other guards that would be going with him to Nibelheim.  Nibelheim?</p><p>“This is…before it happened…” Cloud mumbled.  “This is seven years ago…I have to find Zack!”</p><p>The figure in his dream had sent him back seven years just to see Zack before he was forgotten in time.  Rounding the corner, he remembered where Zack was standing back then.  When he saw him, his heart ached when his legs slowed to a stop.  The SOLDIER 1st Class that had been with him and stolen his heart was there in perfect health.  Arms crossed, he remembered how disappointed he was that no one had gathered for the briefing.</p><p>“Z-Zack…!” Cloud uttered, the disbelief evident in his voice.  “It’s…It’s really you…”</p><p>Zack then noticed that he was there.  He greeted him by approaching him in a fast walk and throwing an arm around his shoulder.  “Cloud!  Together again, huh?” he happily said.  “Where is everyone else?  We have to get going soon.”</p><p>Cloud gently pushed Zack back.  “L-Listen…” he started.  He had to tell him.</p><p>Before he could even begin to say his piece, the two other guards showed up.  When Sephiroth arrived, Cloud’s heart trembled.  He had to stop Zack from going.  He knew that he was condemning his mother in that sleepy village to a horrible death, but Zack didn’t deserve to have experiments done on him nor to be shot to Kingdom Come.</p><p>“Zack, I need to get some things in town—come with me…please!” Cloud quickly requested of him.</p><p>“Wait, now?  We have to do our—”</p><p>“Please!  Please…”</p><p>Zack didn’t understand why Cloud was suddenly so uppity.  He approached Sephiroth for permission to go to Sector 8 with Cloud.  Naturally, his superior wasn’t happy, but when he saw how distraught Cloud was, he allowed it.  It had been just shy of a decade since Cloud had even thought about before the mission.  He had forgotten that Sephiroth used to be kind.  Still, it didn’t excuse what he did to everyone he loved.  And if he could protect Zack from the fate that awaited him, he didn’t care how nice he was.</p><p>Cloud dragged Zack to Sector 8.  Even though it was the entertainment sector of the city, there were shops and stores that he could use to stall him.  He brought him to an alley next to a busy store that afternoon.</p><p>“Cloud, seriously, what’s gotten into you?” Zack asked him out of concern for his best friend.  “Calm down!”</p><p>Cloud gripped his arms, his heart racing.  He didn’t have a lot of time.  He had a feeling that if they took too long in Sector 8, Sephiroth would grow suspicious.  But then, wouldn’t they just leave without them?  He didn’t know what they would do—if they would come looking for them or not—but he didn’t want to go.  He only had a day to spend with Zack, too.  He couldn’t bear to let him go.  Nothing would change what happened two years ago.  This whole thing would only make his guilt worse.  He had to try, though.  So many things left unsaid that he had to take this opportunity.</p><p>“Cloud, what’s wrong?” Zack gently asked him.</p><p>“Don’t go,” Cloud said.</p><p>“Go?”</p><p>Cloud couldn’t help it.  He wrapped his arms around him.  “Please, Zack, don’t go on this mission.  I’m begging you.  Don’t go to Nibelheim.”</p><p>“How did you know we’re going to Nibelheim?”</p><p>“It doesn’t matter.”  Cloud felt the familiar lump growing in his throat.  “Just…stay with me.  Stay in Midgar.  Don’t go there.”</p><p>Zack placed his hands gently on his shoulder, registering just how much he was shaking.  He was aware that Cloud had always been something of a wallflower, but between the intense emotion he was showing him now and the anxiety rattling in his chest, something had to have happened.  Cloud reassured him that nothing had…nothing that he could tell him.  If he told him that he knew what would happen, would Zack laugh at him?</p><p>Without thinking, Cloud reached up to Zack’s head.  Pulling him down, Cloud did the one thing he regretted he never did.  He kissed him long but gently, the tears he had been holding back finally streaming down his cheeks.</p><p>“C-Cloud…!  W-We’re in public…!” Zack stammered through the kiss.</p><p>When Cloud parted from him, he stared into his glowing eyes.  “Let’s not go back to the building.  Let Sephiroth and the others go.  Stay here with me.  Stay safe…”<br/>
Zack’s hands slid down Cloud’s arms to his hands.  He wanted to know why he was so adamant about him not going on the mission.  If Cloud told him, what would he think?  He held his hands.  He had to tell him.</p><p>“If you go on that mission, Zack, you will die,” he told him, pain in his eyes.  “Sephiroth will go insane and destroy the village.  Before you say it, you can’t stop him.  It was a long time coming, so there’s no point.  We’ll kill him, but then…then Hojo will do horrible things to us.  And I’ll become your burden and you’ll die because of me…!”</p><p>Cloud, who had been withdrawn so much that he was thought to be stoic, cracked before him.  He sobbed, pressing his face into Zack’s chest to quiet himself.  He had to remind himself—Zack was there in front of him in that moment.  This wasn’t a dream; Zack was really there with him, alive and still breathing.</p><p>“I love you, Zack.  I don’t want you to die like that.  If only it could have been me, you would be alive.  Everyone would be so much happier.”</p><p>Zack listened to him as he slowly held him in his embrace.  Quietly and sincerely, he let Cloud express the emotions he had kept to himself.  He didn’t doubt that this Cloud was from the future, and he didn’t care if he was going to die like an animal.  “If I died because of you, I think that would be okay,” he said under his breath.</p><p>He let the young blond man hold him and kiss him.  Learning this now, he couldn’t be upset if they missed their flight to the mission site.  He cherished Cloud as much as Cloud cherished him.  He let go of him to take his hand.</p><p>“Come with me?” Zack asked him.  He held his hand out to Cloud, who wiped away his tears before taking it.</p><p>Zack led him back to the Shin-Ra building, avoiding those who knew he had to be out on that fateful mission with Sephiroth all the way back to his room.  He made sure to lock the door; he wasn’t sure if they would come looking for them or if they would leave without them.</p><p>In the quietness of Zack’s pod-like bedroom, Cloud wished things had gone like this.  If he had known that that day was going to be their last in Midgar, he would have told him all the feelings that ended up locked away in his heart.  He let Zack guide him to his bed, where they sat together.  He felt silly for crying—something he hadn’t done in a long time.  He didn’t want Zack to see him like this, yet Zack wanted to.</p><p>“I don’t know how you know what will happen in Nibelheim, but…I know you don’t lie.  You wouldn’t lie about something like that, and you wouldn’t lie about your feelings.”  He leaned into him, his glowing eyes peering into his.  And then he saw that same glow—the mark of a SOLDIER even though Cloud appeared to him as the shy sixteen-year-old he knew.  “I’m sorry, Cloud.  Whenever you’re from, you had to deal with a lot, huh?”</p><p>“More than you could ever know,” Cloud tried to giggle.  “But you went through a lot, too.  I don’t remember everything, but…it couldn’t have been easy to take care of me.”</p><p>“Even if it was, I don’t think I’d mind.”</p><p>Confused by the statement, Cloud finally turned to him, and when he did, Zack caught him in a sincere kiss that slowly pushed him back toward his pillow.  The SOLDIER climbed onto him, watching him as he cradled his face with his gloved hand.  He bent down for another kiss on his forehead, and that was when Cloud noticed the leathery feel of his hand was sneaking up his shirt.</p><p>“Say, did you ever say that the first time?” Zack asked him in a hushed tone, the weight of his body coming down on him like the gentle rolling of an ocean wave.  He nuzzled his face into Cloud’s neck.  “Did you ever say that you loved me before?”</p><p>“N-No,” Cloud admitted.  “I couldn’t.  I wasn’t sure if you had the same feelings, and I didn’t want to make a mistake.  After all, you were a SOLDIER 1st Class.”</p><p>“You really let that stop you?”</p><p>“I didn’t know what to do.  And before too long, I lost my chance.”</p><p>Zack’s phone began to ring, but he let it go.  He knew it was Sephiroth calling for him to come back to the briefing.  He believed what Cloud had told him, and while he knew that he would have to go eventually, he wanted to spend time with him.  The past couldn’t be changed—not even in whatever dreamy time skip Cloud had found himself in.</p><p>Cloud cherished Zack’s weight on him, his scent, how softly he breathed as he reflected on this second chance.  His chest cooled after the raven-haired man sat up to take off the belts and gloves and pauldrons and toss them aside.  He had forgotten that no one knew they were there in his room, so the loud clattering of the metal on the articles startled them.  Cloud couldn’t help but laugh.</p><p>“Shh,” Zack shushed him with an equally radiant smile.  “Someone will hear us.”</p><p>Cloud quieted down.  Another wave of sorrow came over him, catching Zack off-guard.  Why couldn’t this have happened instead?  To assuage his sadness, Zack scooped him up into his arms and hugged him tight.  When that didn’t help, he entangled his fingers in his, holding him tight.</p><p>“Don’t think about it,” he urged him.  “What’s important is that I’m here with you right now.  No matter what, Cloud, I’m always here for you.”</p><p>“I know…I know you are…but I can’t stop thinking about the future…” Cloud sobbed.  Zack shushed him again, pressing his face next to his.</p><p>“I’m here right now.”</p><p>This time when Zack said it, Cloud stopped crying and worrying about what was to come.  Zack lifted his face just a bit to look at him for a moment.  Slowly, as if wondering whether or not it would help, he brushed his lips to his.  It started off unsure and frightened, the demons of tomorrow that haunted Cloud holding him within their grasp.  He gained more confidence, kissing him more intensely to drive that harrowing darkness away.</p><p>Cloud’s eyes had shut tightly but relaxed with Zack’s warmth.  All his memories weren’t there still, the experiments that had come long after erasing and scrambling them just out of reach.  The memories that had been recovered two years ago were only of what had happened in Nibelheim; his ability, or rather, the figure in his dream that had brought him back to the day before had only just barely managed to grant him this tiny wish.</p><p>“I love you, Zack,” Cloud breathed as his neck was peppered with little pecks once the muffler had been pulled off.  He reached for his own pauldrons.</p><p>“Relax, I can do it,” Zack told him.  “I’ll take care of you; don’t worry, okay?”</p><p>Zack unstrapped the pauldrons and the belts that held them in place and tossed them with his off the side of the bed.  He kissed his cheeks leading up to the side of his head before pulling off his shirt.  At once, Cloud’s face flushed.  He watched as the love of his life gingerly opened his stiff shirt.</p><p>“Z-Zack?” Cloud stammered.</p><p>“I’ve got something to admit,” Zack interrupted him.  He hovered over him.  “I love you, too.  And if you never had the courage to tell me how you felt, then I want you to be able to tell me now while you have time.  Something tells me that it can’t be avoided, so…I want to show you what I feel, too.”</p><p>Cloud softened as Zack held him close.  Feeling his skin and the ebb and flow of breath, he couldn’t remember the last time he felt like he belonged.  If they could stay like this for the day that he was given, he would have been happy.  He reached up to his lips with his fingers to remind himself that Zack was there, with his arms around him, <em>alive</em>.  It was the nicest thing to feel him against him like this, and while their time was limited, he could have stayed like that forever.</p><p>Zack leaned down into him for a long kiss, letting Cloud wrap his arms around his neck and returning the affection.  Zack’s face so close to his—this was an intimacy they never got to know.  With Zack holding him on the bed, he slowly made his way down to his neck.  Down to his chest where his heart pounded to the rhythm of a love song in his head and where, years later, there would be a scar left by Sephiroth’s sword.  Down to his waist.</p><p>“This is going to sound weird, but I never realized that you had some muscle!” Zack laughed.</p><p>“O-Of course, I would!  We still had training!” Cloud whined back at him, though he let out a giggle.  Why couldn’t he have this back then?  Things wouldn’t have changed, but perhaps he would have been able to die happy having been able to feel Zack’s radiance.  The sorrowful memories trickled back through the cracks in his bliss.  He latched onto Zack, the anxiety and dread building up in him so much that he wanted to scream out in anguish just as he did and was going to again.  “Zack…Zack, I don’t want to lose you…this is too painful…”</p><p>Zack paused for a moment, laying his head against his chest.  “To tell you the truth, knowing how I’m going to die isn’t that bad,” he solemnly said.  He felt Cloud’s chest tremble.  “If I died protecting you, then that’s the best I could hope for.  Dying like a hero…for the person I care about the most.”</p><p>Cloud held Zack.  He didn’t want to think about it.  He just wanted to lay there for a little longer.  Eventually, they would have to go to Nibelheim and meet the fate that awaited them.  Still, there was time to relish.  Zack moved up on him so that his head was right next to his.</p><p>“I’m actually surprised that Sephiroth hasn’t come looking for us,” Zack said.</p><p>He got up to check his phone, finding a test from him that they would put the trip off till the morning, and he detected a hint of disappointment.  After all, Sephiroth knew that Zack wasn’t one to play hooky.  Cloud sat up with his shirt still open.  They could spend the night together, but even then, he only wanted to hold onto him.  When the Cloud from seven years ago returns, he shouldn’t be put in a situation that he wasn’t present for.</p><p>“Zack, do you mind if I sleep next to you?” he asked him.</p><p>“Do you really think I’d say ‘no’?  But you sure you just want to sleep?  We can talk more and stuff.”</p><p>Cloud was tempted, but he wished deeply to just rest next to him and listen to his breathing.  This was probably going to be the only time he would get the sleep he had missed out on for years due to guilt and anxiety and dysthymia that he refused to tell people about.  He beckoned Zack back to the bed, nestling himself in his arms and staring into the gorgeous glowing eyes.  No one would ever know about it—the love that he had held for Zack that was far deeper than any he had ever experienced before and after.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>So this was also brought on by the vocal version of Price of Freedom and Hollow and listen--Zakkura got some official love songs up in here.  (Of course, Hollow is speculative, but I shall believe what I do in these trying times~)</p></blockquote></div></div>
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